Known in the art, there is the U.S. Pat. No. 4,836,244 granted on Jun. 6, 1989. In this patent, there is described a device for supplying constant pressure to a microcapillary to carry out process of controlling injection of small fluid samples through the microcapillary. The device comprises a main line connected to the microcapillary, a pressure source, and a valve system by which different positive pressures are produced inside the microcapillary. One drawback with the present apparatus is that no means is provided for mixing different reagents to produce a mixture, and no means is provided for rapidly sampling this mixture.
Also known in the art, there is U.S. Pat. No. 4,454,032 granted on Jun. 12, 1984. In this patent, there is described a fast filtering apparatus comprising an injection device, a filter supporting device, and a device for ensuring a fast and temporary contacting of the injection device and the filter support device. The fast filtering process is controlled by an electronic control means. Again, one drawback with the present invention is that no means is provided for mixing different reagents to produce a mixture, and no means is provided for rapidly sampling this mixture.
Also known in the art, there are the following patents: U.S. Pat. No. 4,427,415, "MANIFOLD VACUUM BIOCHEMICAL TEST METHOD AND DEVICE" Patrick H Cleveland; U.S. Pat. No. 4,415,449, "VACUUM FILTRATION BENCH", Wolfgang Hein, Carl Schleicher, GmbH & Co. KG; U.S. Pat. No. 3,888,770, "PLURAL-SAMPLE FILTER DEVICE" Shlomo Avital et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 3,730,352, "FILTRATION APPARATUS", Stanley N. Cohen et al., New Brunswick Scientific Co. Inc.; and U.S. Pat. No. 3,319,792, "MULTIPLE FILTRATION APPARATUS", Philip Leder et al., U.S.A. Department of Health, Education and Welfare.
None of the above patents provides a means for rapidly sampling a mixture.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus and a method for mixing different reagents to produce a mixture, and for rapidly sampling this mixture.